Baking in the Country

I've written posts before on my days with my friend Karin that I titled "Baking in the Country" as she lives on acreage which is only 10 minutes from my house.  We always go to her house as it's a treat for me to enjoy their house and beautiful view however I wanted to return the favour and last week we had a day at my place.  Karin hasn't made pasta before so I said I would show her how to make it and we could have it for lunch.  Karin brought some home grown basil with her which she had collected the seeds from some previous basil and had grown it from this seed.  It was the greenest and freshest basil I have ever seen, nothing like what you find in the supermarket.

Before she arrived I made the dough for the bread rolls written about here so that had time to prove and then baked the rolls in time for lunch.  We made fresh pesto to have with the pasta and had the most amazing home made lunch.  Pasta is so easy to make however if you haven't made it before it sounds so daunting however I was thrilled that I could show her how to make it.  This simple lunch made me so happy and sitting there eating our home made rolls and pasta with fresh pesto on it was such a delight.  If you haven't made pasta before I urge you to give it a go.  My only tip is to make it thinner than you think as when I first made it a long time ago it was too thick and just tastes rubbery so thinner the better in my opinion.  I would take a meal made like this over any shopping trip as it is such a feel good thing to do.  I still can't get over Karin's lovely green pasta...look how green it is.